Screen Rant » sorcerer’s apprentice

First Look at The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

Kofi Outlaw — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:00:21 +0000

I haven’t been really keeping tabs on The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, the upcoming film from director John Turteltaub and his National Treasure bud, Nicholas Cage. The first set photos from TSA recently hit the net and I gotta say, they are not exactly thrilling me. In fact, as I write this, I don’t even know why I’m bothering to write this but I already started typing so here we go…

These first photos from The Sorcerer’s Apprentice mainly show Nic Cage and co-star Monica Bellucci (The Matrix Reloaded) doing the wizard-in-love thang. See for yourself:

(Click each photo for a larger image)

Did you see that hair on Nic Cage??? WTF???

In an age where filmmakers can use CGI to create everything from realistic transforming robots to tear-inducing animated dramas, you think SOMEBODY in a CGI F/X department SOMEWHERE would’ve been tasked with providing Nicholas Cage some realistic-looking hair for each of his roles.

LMAO!!!

Ok… Ok… I’m all done I think… *ahem* The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is scheduled to hit theaters on July 16, 2010.

WAIT, ONE, MINUTE: This is going to be a summer blockbuster??? Are they serious??? I don’t see how this movie is going to do well in a summer lineup: Nic Cage is a fading star; this film ALREADY looks ridiculous; people still have tons of love for that version of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice from Fantasia (Mickey Mouse hacking up those dastardly brooms!); and finally, how does a movie like this expect to NOT look like some middle-aged version of Harry Potter (with Alopecia)?

Then again, Nic Cage does still manage to pack’em in (National Treasure 1&2 were huge cash cows) and until we see a trailer, no telling what kind of buzz this film is going to have. I wouldn’t bet the farm on it, though. And if there’s time, I’d say move it to a Feb-March or Aug-Sept release. But that’s just me.

For even more photos from the set of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice you can go here.

Source: Spoiler TV via Collider

Sorcerer’s Apprentice Still Adding Cast Members

Paul Young — Tue, 19 May 2009 04:34:13 +0000

Sorcerer’s Apprentice has been in production for the past two months and they are still hiring actresses. When Screen Rant mentioned the film before, it didn’t have the incredibly beautiful Monica Belluci (The Matrix Reloaded) attached to it. She has since joined cast members Nicolas Cage, Alfred Molina and director Jon Turteltaub (Cool Runnings) in Disney’s big screen adaptation.

Sorcerer’s Apprentice is loosely (read not at all) based on the original poem by Johann Wolfgang Goethe; Disney drew its inspiration from the poem for the famous scene in the animated classic Fantasia. Based in modern-day Manhattan, Cage is sorcerer Balthazar Blake who is fighting the forces of darkness with the help of his young protégé (Jay Baruchel). Molina plays evil sorcerer Horvath who teams up with Drake Stone (Toby Kebbell) to “gain ultimate powers”.

Bellucci takes on the role of sorceress Veronica, who is Blake’s long-lost girlfriend. Teresa Palmer (Bedtime Stories) joins her as Baruchel’s girlfriend. Apparently, evil sorcerers do not need love because there has been no mention of girlfriends for them.

I keep having this horrible feeling deep in my gut that this movie is not going to be as good as people think, though I’m trying not to be pessimistic about it. I’m not so worried about newcomers Baruchel and Kebbell or even veteran Molina but the one name attached to this that gives me great pause is… Nicolas Cage.

Now, I’m a Cage fan, I really am! I very much enjoyed him in Honeymoon in Vegas, Raising Arizona and I’m one of the few people that liked The Rock; but his choice of movie roles lately has not been what you would call… “stellar.”

Let’s take a look at his last 10 movies: Knowing, Bangkok Dangerous, National Treasure: Book of Secrets, Next, Ghost Rider, The Wicker Man, World Trade Center, The Weather Man, Lord of War, National Treasure. I would only consider two of those (World Trade Center and The Weather Man) to be above average. That puts Nic at a horrible 20% success rate (or 50% if we lower the standards a tad) when it comes to choosing roles.

Both National Treasure movies were fun to watch and made a lot of money at the box office but they were nothing more than popcorn flicks. The rest are a bunch of major disappointments, but not because of his acting, which can sometimes be one-dimensional. Cage always seems to be dedicated to each of his roles, Ghost Rider is a good example, but even that can’t help a movie with a really bad story line.

For the sake of seeing a good magic yarn told on screen that doesn’t have Harry Potter in the title, I hope this movie does turn out to be fun.

Does the cast or story interest you or do you think it will fall painfully short?

Disney’s Sorcerer’s Apprentice will release in theaters July 16, 2010.

Source: /Film

Weekend Movie News Wrap Up: March 22, 2009

Niall Browne — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 15:18:54 +0000

It’s Sunday and therefore it’s Wrap Up time. This week:

We Know who is top of the box office; Cage and Bruckheimer make a date; Beatty fights over Dick Tracy; George Lucas’s Red Tails gets Wild(s); get ready for Demonkeeper; Segal meets Little Fockers and Universal knows the Rites of Men.

Box Office
Nicolas Cage is king of the box office with Knowing. The Alex Proyas (I Robot) directed film should manage about $24-25 million over the weekend. Put it this way, Knowing made more on Friday than Bangkok Dangerous made on it’s opening weekend.

The Paul Rudd- Jason Segal comedy I love You, Man should cash in $18 million over the weekend. The R-rated comedy was similar to the weekend starts of the stars previous film like Role Models and Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

Julia Roberts re-teams with Clive Owen for Duplicity. The comedy-caper film should steal $14.5 million from audiences over the weekend.

The Rock’s (or Dwayne Johnson‘s) Race To Witch Mountain should gather another $14 million bringing the Disney film to just under the $50 million mark.

Watchmen should bank another $6-7 million bringing the epic comic book movie to the $100 million mark. Not a bad gross, but it’s quite disappointing.

Last House on the Left dropped $65% to $6.5 million.

Liam Neeson’s Taken managed another $4.5 million bringing the total of the film to over $130 with a world wide take surpassing $200 million.

Movie News

1. Nicolas Cage’s forthcoming Disney film The Scorcerer’s Apprentice has a release date set for July 16, 2010. The Jerry Bruickheimer produced film which co-stasr Jay Baruchel, directed by Jon Turtletaub, is a modern retelling of the Disney classic.

It should make a killing at the box office.

Source: Variety

2. Warren Beatty is being sued by Tribune Media Services so that they can regain the rights to Dick Tracy. The action states that the character of Tracy should revert back to the company as Beatty hasn’t made “productive use” of the rights in a decade.

Beatty has however begun work on a Dick Tracy television special, but Tribune Media Services say that the show is only being produced so that Beatty can retain the rights to the character which he purchased in 1985.

Beatty starred in and directed a Dick Tracy movie that was released in 1990. The film grossed over $100 million at the US box office and co-starred Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman and Madonna.
It’s not a bad little film. Visually it’s very impressive with a pre-digital Sin City style vibe.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

3. 90210 star Tristan Wilds has been cast in George Lucas‘ Red Tails.

According to The Hollywood Reporter:

“Wilds will play Ray “Ray Gun” Knight, a flyboy nearly blinded over Nazi-occupied Italy who becomes the wingman of his friend and cohort, Marty. The two face the prejudice of the U.S. military as much as the overseas enemy but end up establishing an unprecedented record.”

The film was written by John Ridley and it will be directed by Anthony Hemingway.

Lucas has talked about this film for years, and I honestly believed that it would never see the light of day.

Now just get behind a camera again George and direct something like THX 1138 or American Graffiti.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

4. The Tale of Despereaux and Flushed Away director Sam Fell will direct a liva-action adaptation of Royce Buckingham’s Demonkeeper.

According to Variety:

“Story follows a Seattle teen who inherits responsibility for a house filled with demons. When the youth finally breaks free of his charges to go on a date, he returns to discover that kids have broken into the house, unleashing its most vicious demon, the Beast, Killer of Lost Children.”

Sounds like an interesting premise.

Source: Variety

5. Peter Segal is in the frame to direct the third Meet the Parents movie which is currently titled Little Fockers.

Segal had been expected to direct Get Smart 2, but Steve Carrell signed on to the comedy Date Night with Tina Fey. With Segal at the helm this will be the first Focker movie to to be directed by Jay Roach.

The Robert DeNiro produced film was written by John Hamburg. Ben Stiller, DeNiro, Dustin Hoffman, Barbara Streisand and Owen Wilson are all expected to return.

Source: Variety

6. Jonathan Herman’s new script Rites of Men has been bought by Universal Pictures. The script is being compared to the sleeper hit Taken.

The Hollywood Reporter said:

“Herman’s script centers on a working-class single dad whose only son is murdered and must then set out on a quest to solve the killing.”

The “dad on revenge” movie seems to be a popular new sub genre. Mark Wahlberg is attached to a similar film called Prisoners while Mel Gibson has the forthcoming Edge of Darkness.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

That’s it for now. See you at the movies.